Even in Japan, many dismiss anime as being no more than cartoons for kids – Japanese anime fans looking to challenge this prejudice provide 25 anime titles they would unhesitatingly recommend to those poor souls who might otherwise languish under the terrible misconception that animation consists of nothing more than Disney flicks and Saturday morning cartoons…

The only problem with this list is that people who think "cartoons are for kids" are not going to watch any of these. For some reason they just can't take a cartoon seriously, even if it has blood and guts, incredible action sequences, or is highly poignant. Take Grave of the Fireflies for example. It is an incredible portrait of WWII Japan and most people will ignore it because it looks like it is "for kids". They have no idea what they are missing.

i had a friend/room mate who thinks cartoons are for kids... then he seen some of the stuff i watch when he was in my room... and he finally came to terms that cartoon isnt just for kids, but he still doesnt wanna watch it, because its not "realistic"... then he proceed to watch heroes.

i can understand. it's more "realistic" because it deals with actual humans, not drawings. thats the american mentality, that cartoons are for kids. why would they think otherwise? have you seen what is broadcasted on nick and cartoon network now? its all child stuff. obviously they should give anime a chance, but look at what they are exposed to on a daily basis. its not their fault.

wat he meant by "realistic" is becuz it's dealing with real human (the actors and such), although the CGs, special effects, and stories said otherwise. On the other hand, anime is drawn, either by hand or by computer, it's still drawing of imaginary people.

And why is it CGs are better than drawing? Because f**k logic, ignorant people aren't going to

Okay you mentioned Roger Ebert, except we are looking at these dumb, good for nothing for kids titles with barely anything to offer. The stuff on the list are merely passable stories which won't last for a decade...

The one anime that I would suggest that would give them a taste of anime. would give them a sample of how much you can learn from an anime While being entertained is Ghost hound. Its many discriptions of mental states can be seen in university level classes.

I still laugh and feel sorry for anyone who thinks gore and blood = adult or bewbs and panties = adult.

It's like saying Battlefield and Call of Duty are games for adults. Surely that's why the 13-16 year olds gobble it up thinking it's super realistic and OMGOMG it's got that gun they use in the military!

I could be wrong, but wouldn't a Miyazaki movie still be considered a gateway toward opening them up a bit little by little if they won't sit down for a series? I mean let's face it, Princess Mononoke sure as shit removes younger kids from the mix with giant bleeding demon-infested forest spirits.

Of course that knocks a few Christians out of the equation by default I guess.

Yeah, right? And as any true fan of Manga, Anime or even Japanese culture in general knows, the concept of "Demon" in their belief-system doesn't have the same meaning as it does in most religious. In Shintoism and the like, a "Demon" is simply a spiritual entity... and not necessarily an 'evil' one. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird

Says the Anon who hasn't dropped their balls yet. Lame troll is lame and overused. American TV shows and all Dramas are the same exact bull crap anyway. Oooh Jersey Shore. I wanna be a slut and smoosh smoosh everyone I think is 'HOT'.

Actually... you're incorrect and that Anon was correct. He's trying to say "They are for kids" which is extended for "They're" as you yourself just said so... yeah. Anything else I say will be an insult no matter what it is, so I'll just leave that there and recommend you pay closer attention next time.

You're fucking retarded. It's "They're." "They (anime) are for kids who can't grow up." "Their makes absolutely no sense in that sentence. I hope English isn't your first language, or you seriously are a fucking idiot.

Oops, my bad. Thank you, HouseLife, for pointing out to me that I just grammar nazid 2:07 because I thought that they were commenting to 00:35... My apologies to the concerning parties. Been a long day.

Clannad is full of moe Key shit no matter how much drama they add they will never convince anyone to change his mind. It moe otaku style drama not grown people drama. Also Ano Hana has teenage and a little silly drama.
Put in Nana in the place of those if you want to have a chance.

It's the perfect toy for that teenager that wants to play big, bad grownup & watch cool grownup stuff about dismemberment, panties & nudity. Y'know....all the cool parts of badass grownup world without the stupid parts like realistic character motivations, consistent plot or any deeper meaning besides a rewrite of Frankenstein as a naked teen chick.

I'm not sure but I think the subtitles have the word "fuck" at some point? So there's that part too.

Im 31 and LOVED Elfen Lied.
Your reverse logic failed, we do like violence, nudity, mature language and all that, the older we are the more we like it, only lifeless geeks look for meaning in anime, videos games and books.
Us old folks, we just want to get some fun and go to sleep, we have to go to work the next day

I'm also 20 (whatever that has to do with anything) and didn't like the show. In the fashion of the post before me I will make no actual point, besides scrutinizing the post before mine and the stating my opinion no one cares about. show bad but me like cat ears

Well, as far as I'm concerned both those points suck. Age has nothing to do with it except for life experience.

The reason violence and nudity and such are considered 'adult' is because they are things that we adults know exist in reality. To be 'adult' is nothing more than to identify a medium that is bringing up universal things that adults deal with, such as sex, violence, people who curse, etc. These are things widely accepted as things only people of a certain age are 'allowed' to do, and therefore that is why it's identified as such.

I personally like shows that don't hide behind censorship, but that also has a balance where you don't just do gratuity for the sake of gratuity. If you look at recent anime that have a bunch of sexual content, nearly all of it is in good humor, or strange contexts. It exists to be a parody of real life, and it's a parody that people with developed minds can get, while younger children won't get all the nuances. It's not like it's complicated, it's basically just slapstick, and to be 'adult' doesn't mean that you are above laughing at something being simply funny.

Elfin Lied was just a contradiction, much like Madoka is today. You have cute girls with cat ears mutilating each other. Two things that aren't something we see together. Madoka is magical girls getting killed and showing a very human side, another thing we don't often see. It's a simple literary concept, taking two things that don't belong and making them work together.

It doesn't make you more special if you don't enjoy it, or less special if you do. Elfin Lied wasn't a deep novel, but it was innovative for its medium.

And your logic is so flawless. Just because you're 31 and you liked it, doesn't mean that everyone likes violence more, the older they get. Don't be ridiculous.

It's not even about pretence by the way. If Elfen Lied only acted accordingly, like a meaningless gore anime, nobody would even look for symoblism or whatnot in the series, like Dokuro-chan. It's meaningless violence at it's finest.

But Elfen Lied tries to pretend it's got a meaning of some sort, already starting with the pretentious Latin opening, combined with the "artsy" "hommage" to Gustav Klimmt's art... What do you expect? Of course people will put it under the "serious" category.

And I'm not even talking about the whole moral of "all humans are evil, the true monsters aren't the ones who look like it". Just admit it, you watched it for the tits, and you'll never grow out of it. Accept that people can be objective about quality, and that they don't hate / love things for the sake of it.

If it's bad, it's bad. If it's good, it's good. Not every single guy is fanboy who likes stuff because the main character says cute stuff like "nyuu"...

@16:02 I can sorta see your point about how some teens might be focused entirely on the gore as the defining factor in EL's "adultness"(that was your point right?), but I disagree about the rest. Elfen Lied's not really as shallow as you make it out to be.

I think something like Fist of the North Star might be a better fit for your rant. That's an awesome show, BTW,hahaha.

You know how early Mortal Kombat and other gore-driven games tend to be nowhere near a list to prove that video games are mature? That's why it's not on here. You can argue it had good writing, but you are going to sound like that kid who kept insisting MK played so much better than Street Fighter II.